STRUGGLE HERO DHARAMRAJ KISSOON SINGH - A HOUSE-HOLD NAME IN THE 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s

By Subry Govender One of the social, civic, sporting and political activists whose enormous contributions to the creation of South Africa’s new non-racial and democratic society spanned nearly 60 years was Durban lawyer, Dharamraj Kissoon Singh, who passed on in August 2010 at the age of 81. A few years before his passing, I had the privilege of interviewing D K Singh about his early life, his social and political involvement and his views about the challenges facing the new South Africa. “I became an activist during the apartheid era because I could not just sit back and allow the apartheid regime to continue with its discriminatory and repressive policies,” he told me when I asked him why and he became an activist. "I saw the injustices being done to our people and without thinking about it, I felt that I had a duty to our people both locally and nationally." Born into a humble working-class family at Umzinto on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast on May 27 1929, Mr Singh completed his early education at Umzinto and Sastri College in Durban where he completed his matriculation in the early 1940s. Mr Singh became actively involved in the struggles for social, sporting, economic and political liberation while still a student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban. He played an active role in the Students Representative Council and came under the influence of Dr Monty Naicker, who was then president of the Natal and South African Indian Congresses in the 1940s and 1950s. During this period, he took part in many of the campaigns initiated and led by Dr Naicker. He qualified as an attorney in 1958 and immediately became one of the progressive lawyers who made himself available to take up the legal struggles of many political activists and organisations facing harassment at the hands of the former apartheid regime. For more than two decades Mr Singh operated from the centre of the former Grey Street "Indian" area in Durban in partnership with the late Mr Pat Poovalingham and Mr Kader Vahed. The law firm was known as: "D K Singh, Poovalingham and Vahed."

Over the next 40 years he became actively involved in the anti-apartheid civic, political and sporting struggles. He became an executive member of the Natal Indian Congress when it was revived in the early 1970s, served as president of the Asherville Ratepayers Association for 23 years, was one of the founding members and president of the Durban Housing Action Committee(DHAC) for 12 years, president of the David Landau Community Centre for 14 years and president of the Amateur Swimming Union of Natal for five years and executive member of the non-racial Amateur Swimming Federation of South Africa. Mr Singh was also secretary of the Durban Citizens Action Committee, which assisted activists detained by the former notorious security police; represented victims of the Group Areas Act; and provided free legal service for the Aryan Benevolent Home and the Durban Blind and Deaf Society. At the same time Mr Singh assisted trade union organisations such as the former Durban Integrated Employees Society(DIMES). Mr Singh worked very closely with veteran struggle stalwarts such as Swaminathan Gounden, Rabbi Bugwandeen, and George Sewpersadh in the Natal Indian Congress. He also worked with Gounden, the late Vasie Nair and Rad Thumbadoo in the Asherville Civic Association and the David Landau Community Centre. He also established a formidable team with Pravin Gordhan, who is now the Minister of Finanance, and the late Yunus Mahomed and George Sewpersadh in advancing the cause of the Durban Housing Action Committee, which highlighted the plight of the homeless and the poor. D K Singh also assisted many individuals and communities when they were forcefully evicted from their homes under the notorious Group Areas Act in the 1960s. One of the groups was the Zanzibari community, who had settled in the Bluff in Durban after their ancestors had arrived from the Zanzibar Island in Tanzania in East Africa. They were also evicted from their homes and forcefully removed to Chatsworth. Mr Singh worked tirelessly to ensure that they received adequate compensation. In the sporting swimming world, he was closely associated with stalwarts such as late Morgan Naidoo, who was president of the Amateur Swimming Federation of South Africa, and Archie Hulley. One of the features of his life was that he did not charge any legal fees for the work he had undertaken on behalf of activists and social and community organisations. This correspondent, who had known Mr Singh since the early 1970s, asked him during our interview why he provided free legal service for so many individuals and organisations. He responded: "How can I even dream of charging any fees for the defence of comrades who played such an active role in promoting our freedom and in trying to get a better deal for the community generally?"

D K Singh also provided free legal services for numerous social and welfare organisations, including the Aryan Benevolent Home and Natal Blind and Deaf Society. At the time of the interview in 2006, Mr Singh was confident and optimistic about the progress that had been made in the new South Africa. He was of the view that the country had come a long way although there were still many challenges. This is what he had said: "The country is doing fairly well. We still have immense problems which we have to solve - the housing backlog, the employment problems. All these things need to be attended to. But I think the Government is trying its best and I am sure given the time they will achieve much more than they have already achieved." D K Singh had great confidence in the future of the country. Mr Singh was of the view that the young people had to take an active interest in the future of the country because it was the new generation that would inherit the new democracy. "The young people must carry the struggle forward for social and economic equality. "They must take an active interest in the problems of the country. They must ensure that they make a meaningful contribution to the development of the country and to the attainment of a truly-rainbow nation where everybody has equal rights," he told me. Although D K Singh retired at that time in 2006 from active social, sporting and political work he still kept a close watch on the social and political work. In a growing democracy like South Africa, D K Singh said it would be very difficult to be dispassionate even when one is caught up by advancing age. “We have to follow in the footsteps of our great leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Monty Naicker, Yusuf Dadoo, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu in continuing with our struggles for a society where all people will enjoy full freedom and human rights in a truly non-racial democracy,” he told me. Like other activists of his era, Mr Singh had committed his life to serving the interests of the people. His uncompromising and committed life will, no doubt, be an inspiration to the current and future generations. All of us must forever be thankful to activists of the calibre of D K Singh. There are very few of them around today. Ends – subrygovender@gmail.com Feb 15 2017